Ep. 59 - What Negative Reviews Are Really Saying About Your Firm

In this episode of The Law Firm Growth Professor podcast, I’m talking about something most law firm owners try to avoid: negative reviews, online criticism, and the comments section.

You’ve probably heard the advice, “Don’t feed the trolls.” But when it comes to your law firm’s reputation, ignoring what people are saying online can quietly damage trust, referrals, and future growth.

In this episode, I break down why law firm owners need to pay attention to reviews — even the unfair ones — and how smart firms can use feedback to strengthen client experience, improve communication, and protect their brand online.

Because whether we like it or not, potential clients are forming opinions about our firms long before they ever contact us.

In this episode, I cover:

• Why every growing law firm will eventually deal with negative reviews
• The difference between constructive criticism and online trolling
• How client expectations shape your online reputation
• Why monitoring your digital presence matters more than ever
• How online feedback can reveal blind spots inside your firm
• The biggest mistakes lawyers make when responding to criticism
• How to build more trust and credibility online

If you want to protect your reputation, strengthen your brand, and grow a law firm people trust, this episode is for you.

Want to learn more about how our agency can help your law firm grow? Speak with John Rizvi ☎️

Transcript

John Rizvi 0:00

Hi and welcome. I'm John Rizvi, the Law Firm Growth Professor. For my new listeners, I'm pleased you came to join me today. For my existing listeners, it's always great to have you. In this podcast, I share the strategies for growth that if it worked for me in growing my law firm from a startup with just me, a laptop, and a cell phone, operating out of a spare bedroom to where we are today, a team of 60 professionals generating over $10 million a year in revenue from our 10,000 square foot headquarters in Coral Springs. Now we've all heard the old saying, don't feed the trolls. Usually that means, especially in social media and blogging spaces, don't read the comments, don't worry about them, don't think about them, and don't go in and start flame wars or arguments, especially if it's not with your own followers. But as with so many other other things, conventional wisdom gets wrong. Well, I think they got this wrong. You as the manager and owner of your law firm, you own its presence, both in the real world and in cyberspace. You need to know what people are saying about you. Sometimes what they have to say will be accurate or have merit. Maybe you need to re-evaluate how your firm's doing business. Sometimes they'll be saying things about your firm or you personally that are absolutely not true. So it's not generally considered good for one's mental health to spend too much time on comment chains or threads and what have you. But you do unfortunately need to know what people are saying about your firm, good and bad, so that you can manage your online reputation more effectively and help ease the sting of those inevitable poor critiques and negative reviews that you're going to get. You can't avoid them. You can't change the fact that some people are just going to be unhappy, no matter what. If they got a $50,000 settlement and they thought they deserved $100,000. Or if they get a $100,000 settlement and they think it should have been $500,000. They get a million, it should have been a hundred million. And so it goes. You're never going to make everybody happy. And as attorneys, we're well aware of what can happen if our clients are not happy with us. I'm a patent attorney. And when I win a patent for a client, they believe it's mostly because their idea is so innovative. And when I lose a patent and it gets denied, it's because my law firm was not able to persuade the examiner about how great the invention is. This is just human nature. But as long as we play within the rules, we're probably okay and can weather the storm of an unhappy review because the judicial system is adversarial. It means that uh one's gonna stand and one is gonna fall anytime you have two lawyers battling it out. There's no way to avoid that. But you can get in front of it. So reading the content and the comments, finding out what people are saying about you, all of this matters. Yes, it's sometimes distasteful, uh, but it's always a necessary part of your law firm marketing. Now, there's a way to deal with trolls or people who leave improper comments on your blogs or on your social media or what have you. The problem is like uh everyone else, we're human beings. We have feelings, and sometimes it can be really hard to deal with ingratitude from our clients, especially when that gratitude is plastered all over your website or otherwise put out in a public way, and that forces us to react and respond in a giving way. For example, uh our disgruntled plaintiff who thought that their suit should have been worth $100,000 and only got $50,000 could say any number of things about you. Are these things true? Probably not, but the comments they leave may help reveal parts of where their unhappiness could have come from, and maybe a breakdown and an understanding between you and the client of what the next steps were or should have been or why they couldn't go for a hundred thousand dollar settlement in their case. The facts are always going to change depending on your client. But as long as you've done your part, there's nothing else to say except I represented you the best I could based on the merits of your case, and the final decision is not in my hands. Um, and if that's the case, you can ignore the comment and drive on. But uh they're telling, what if they're telling outright lies about you? Like they're uh that you are out partying with the other party's counsel or that you're biased? Uh and uh what if they try to call you out on something that's not true, something that's blatantly uh false and you're not and you shouldn't tolerate a smear campaign against you. So how do you know when it's time to just let a negative comment go versus when it's time to get uh into the weeds? Well, the answer is reputational harm. If this comment could do or is doing obvious harm to your law firm's reputation or to your own professional reputation, you've got something uh that you need to fight for. And if it's general, say, hey, I don't like this attorney because he didn't pick up my case, or I couldn't take this attorney seriously because I don't like the color of their office or the or the way they dress or something like that. More serious accusations may require you to go through extra steps. You can contact Google or other search engines and ask them to take down unfair reviews. You can talk to social media outlets uh on Twitter, Facebook, Meta, and uh more serious accusations, they do need to be addressed. So you can contact these places and say, hey, this review is inaccurate, or it's maybe it's not even a client of yours, uh, or it violates your terms of service. If you throw that, uh, they're probably going to move with quickness and hopefully you can get rid of some of the negative comments, not all of them, because they're not going to accept uh comments from people that you can verify are not clients. Uh, at least you have a fighting chance. That gives you a weapon to fight back with. Another thing to remember, and I've talked about this before, is the golden proportion for good reviews to bad reviews. You need at least five reviews, and some sources say as many as 10 to overcome one negative review. Now, of course, that's going to vary depending on what the content of the review is. Uh, if it's that this attorney wouldn't take my case because she didn't think I could win, well, okay, that was this an attorney exercising their professional judgment and saying, look, this case isn't going to go anywhere, and I'm not going to let you waste your money on trying to make it passed uh uh on a frivolous case. And if that's the case, you can ignore a comment like that. Someone didn't like the fact that you're wearing uh a specific tie at the deposition. So again, those choices have nothing to do with your legal ability. So you can't uh go in and start uh responding to every single client. You have to be every single review, you have to be more purposeful. So if you're being accused of malpractice or improperly guiding your client, that's a whole different matter. And you have recourse through social media outlets, through search engines, and yes, you may even have recourse uh through litigation if needed. Now, of course, in very serious cases, you could try to sue for slander or libel and uh maybe even have a chance. But you want to be careful to not end up looking like a bully because they may post about that lawsuit as well. Uh so the question is, uh what if you jump the shark? Where do you reach the point where uh I don't like your tie tips into I'm accusing them of professional malpractice? Uh and sometimes these are obvious, sometimes they're more subtle, but it's worth your while to know who's reading the comments and who's reacting to the comments and why. Sometimes this shouldn't happen, but unfortunately it does. Sometimes attorneys will try to poison the well for other attorneys to make themselves look more attractive uh to prospective clients. They uh believe it or not, people have set up fake Google profiles and they throw out uh outlandish accusations and reviews on competitors' websites. It happens in every industry and every group of people. Uh, and it's one of the more sketchy and harder to detect versions of Black Hat SEO because what they're doing is they're not worrying about their own SEO. They're interested solely in torpedoing a competitor's rankings uh so that they can stay more visible and therefore more relevant and get more business. And lawyers are not immune to this as well. It happens in every industry. And if you're sitting here going, wait a minute, I'm doing all of this right, uh, where the hell is this even coming from? Now, of course, it's really bad form to accuse one of your competitors in your area of practice without having a smoking gun and ironclad evidence. But if you're not a hundred percent sure that the source isn't uh, you know, a former client and it could possibly be a competitor, uh then you want to uh proceed carefully. You want to make sure you weigh your options and and perhaps even uh measure your words before you make accusations. But that's a completely different matter than if you're going out and trying to actively sabotage other people that way. If you're even thinking about that, and I hope you're not, uh don't do it. Just play a straight game. People who play the straight game with SEO always find out that it works out better in the long run than if they don't. Shortcuts are not your friend when it comes to SEO, especially if they involve sabotaging competitor websites, and they can get you in in deep trouble with your state bar and even have uh other implications. Now, another point to consider is that a lot of people uh feel like once they have their SEO channels done, they've got their social media accounts ready to go, and they're populating these channels with content, they think that they're done. Well, that's great, that's wonderful. You need to have those platforms in place. You need to update them regularly to make sure you're getting the results that you're looking for. However, what you also need to do is make sure that you're constantly engaging with your audience. Uh, if you're paid a nice compliment, say, hey, thanks, I'm glad you liked my white paper on estate planning law or whatever it is, uh, okay, that's something of value, and it's nice to have acknowledged, and it's nice for them to have acknowledgement from you. You appreciated the fact that they took the time to read your white paper on estate planning or whatever, and that's great. Now, if somebody says, you know, I didn't like something about your office or the colors or uh or your office building, and I don't feel like you could properly represent me, maybe you ignore that, uh, or perhaps even poke fun at it, or even consider a self-depreciating uh comment. Um uh that could be one way that you proceed as well. Okay, so now you flip the script around, so the joke's on them, and you uh seem to have a sense of humor about it, and you've demonstrated that, hey, you can take criticism and let it roll off your back. Something like that's a perfect response to that situation. Of course, silence can always speak louder, and sometimes it's a good idea to let the silence do all the talking, just like with your clients and how you advise them uh to shut up when they're talking to somebody uh about a matter that's relevant to their case. The problem is we as attorneys are not always as good about following our own rules, especially when it comes to our reputation and our livelihood when it's under attack. And people say, you know, that's business. It's nothing personal. Well, it's your livelihood, it's your name, and it's your reputation on the block. So, yes, it is personal and you should take it personally. It's about as personal as a punch in the face. But there's a way to deal with situations like this with class, and there's a way to deal with it that's uh going to get you in more trouble than the trolls will ever know about. So we want to keep that in mind as well. So when it comes to the really nasty complaints or the completely baseless, meritless uh comments, that's when it's time to get the moderators on your social media channels and the search engines involved. And of course, decide whether or not this is where your red line lies. Are you considering taking them to court over it? Is it an option? Sure. But is it the best option? Or does it make you look like a bully and end up costing you a lot of time and money and possibly have them continue uh commenting even further? Remember, the damages and an award is only worthwhile if it's enforceable and if the potential defendant has the funds to pay. Otherwise, it's just a judgment. So you want to carefully weigh legal action uh for libel or slander if that's something you're considering. Uh now, if it's more serious, uh, like say you're an accusation of a romantic encounter with opposing counsel, there's something that you're gonna have to move on really quickly. So you want to make sure the state bar uh is not gonna start investigating you over accusations that you wouldn't have even known about if you followed conventional wisdom and just didn't read the comments. So you want to make sure you're always reading and keeping up with the comments and what's being said about you online. Reading your reviews, you'll see what an impact you're having on your clients for good or bad. Now, to be fair, some people never go online to say anything nice. They just don't. They're not equipped for it, they're not wired for it. They may go online with the best of intentions and all of a sudden they're mad because somebody's wearing a shade of yellow they don't like. And yes, I'm taking it down to that level of ridiculousness because that's a level of ridiculousness you might have to wade through in your comments and in reading the reviews of your firm. They don't have anything to do with a specific case or legal action. Some people just like to grumble about anything and everything. And oftentimes it's not even uh a prospective client of yours or or an actual client of yours. So in those cases, you do have to push back. Okay, and you push back and you look at what is it that they're grumbling about. You find out, and now you've got options. You can change it or you can have fun with it, or if worse comes to worse, you can report it. But you can't do any of those things if you don't know what people are saying about you online. And as I just discussed, it's really important to know when those really nasty accusations are being flailed around so that you can get out in front of them and defend your reputation. If you know what they're saying and that it's untruthful, you're entirely within your rights to say that never happened. I don't know this person from Adam outside of the courtroom. Uh, we've never so much as sat down uh together. They're not friends. Uh and and you can dispel any negative comments that uh or inferences that people would make. But again, it comes down to the idea that knowledge is power. You have to know what people are saying about you before you can effectively counter it or encourage it. So it helps to reply to compliments and especially make a point to reply to positive comments as well. This is a good thing because it tells the people who watch your website uh and find you online and your social media channels that you're paying attention and that you do care about their opinion. Now let's say you get a negative review, but it's really not that bad. Hey, I'm sorry that you feel like we didn't do the job that you hired us to do. I understand uh why that would make you unhappy. I understand that you feel like you weren't well represented, but the facts of the case were blah, blah, blah, and we cannot uh control the outcome uh even if we do our best to represent you. You don't have to defend a chapter and verse, and you definitely uh don't have to win by refuting bad comments in a way that puts your client's business out there. Uh confidentiality still applies, even if they come at you with a pickaxe online, metaphorically speaking. No, instead, what you want to do is say something like, I understand why you feel this way, I empathize on why you feel this way, but the facts that were given to me prior to this case and the facts that came out in Discovery didn't support your position. And unfortunately, that's what the law is all about. You don't have to get huffy with them, you don't have to make a big thing of it. You do have to be sure you moderate your tone a bit so that you don't get people coming to the state bar saying this person's a bully online or revealed uh confidential attorney client privileged information. Uh, because again, uh that's not appreciated by state bars, and it points to the decorum and traditions of the position of being an attorney. So keep that in mind as well. You don't have to engage with every comment, good or bad. You want to engage with the lighter bad comments directly and say, no, uh, you know, that was fine or whatever. That's that's if it's something about your office, your decor, or the way you dress, uh, you you can just engage with it and say, these are just my preferences. Um, or you can make fun of them and or fun of yourself and uh and and have self-deprecating humor in a situation like that. For example, I'm glad you liked my video and on why you need to keep, and I do have a video out there about uh entitled Keep Your Uh Freaking Mouth Shut. Uh and sometimes I'll get comments saying, you know, that that that was funny. Other people would find that not really uh lawyerly. So that's something to keep in mind. But moments of like these are great because each one offers another opportunity for you to educate other clients and uh also uh put forth a position on why sometimes things go off the rails. Human beings just don't always see eye to eye. We do things differently, and that helps build up your humanity, which helps build up your presence and also helps make you a more attractive option when somebody's looking for an attorney in your field. But to do that, you need to know what people are saying about you. Now, one more thing to point out before I go for the day. I have a writer friend who's fond of quoting his father. What his father said was if one person calls you a horse, ignore them. Two people call you a horse, think about it. Three people call you a horse, it's time to buy a saddle. So if you know what people are saying about you, you know where you stand as far as whether you need to buy a metaphorical saddle. That's why I say it's a good idea to read the comments and take them to mind. But not to heart. If enough people are saying the same thing about you, maybe it's food for thought that you can use to improve your law firm and how interact it interacts with clients. Maybe not, but at least it gives you a starting point to try to do better in the future if necessary. So keep that in mind and be sure to read those comments. But please don't feed the trolls. Again, I'm John Rizvi, the law firm growth professor. Before you leave today, I'd appreciate it if you could click the like button. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss any updates from this channel, and don't forget to share with your friends and colleagues who may find this podcast helpful. Thank you so much for stopping by today, and be sure to tune in next week for more tips and ideas for making your firm's digital presence stronger and more durable. I look forward to seeing you all next week. Thank you.